Çukurova Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi (ÇÜİFD)

Öz

The Taliban Movement emerged in 1994 in the Ispin Boldak district of Kandahar, under the name Tahrik-e Islami Ulema-ye Kiram, with the slogan of jihad against insecurity, bribery, poverty, polytheism and blasphemy. The Taliban established close relations with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Emirates during their rule in Afghanistan. The Taliban movement has endeavored to bring religion to a political basis in order to make Islamic sharia applicable to a Muslim society. The Taliban movement put religion at the center of the state, aiming to strengthen the religious identity of individuals and the formation of a religion-based state. Therefore, the Taliban declared its leader as the caliph of all Muslims. The Taliban movement received religious education in madrasahs established along the lines of Wahhabi and Deoband in Pakistan. On the other hand, the socio-cultural codes of Pashtun tribes also shaped the Taliban’s understanding of religion. The Taliban movement has developed a special understanding of religion shaped around nonfigurative and literal meanings of the Quran and Hadiths. As a result, although the criteria of the Taliban movement’s perception of religion is not clear, it can be stated that it is generally fed the thought of Wahhabism, the teachings of Deoband schools and the understanding of tribalism. In this study, we will try to examine the criteria that constitute the Taliban Movement's understanding of religion.